Die, Everyone’s Doing It
by allurement
Summary: AU. The zombie apocalypse has arrived, and eleven teenagers find themselves seeking refuge at their high school. But with the zombies looking for fresh blood at every corner, and the gang getting killed off one by one, is survival really possible?
1. Apocalypse, Please

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

**Warning:** Contains violence, gore and strong language.

* * *

"Is it secure?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure?"

"I think so—"

"You_ think_ so? No. No, don't say that. You don't fucking say things like 'I think so' right now, okay? Okay, those—_things_ are still fucking out there, and we have no idea _at all_ where the others are, and—oh God. Oh God, what if they're dead? They _are_ dead, aren't they? Aren't they? Oh God, we're going to die next. We're going to die—"

"Shut up, okay? Just calm down. Calm down, otherwise they'll hear us."

"Don't you see, they're coming for us either way. There's no point! We're just going to die anyway!"

"No. Stop—stop it. Don't talk like that. Seriously, don't. I—Come on, don't cry. Please. It'll be alright. _We'll_ be alright. I think—I'm _sure_—the others are fine, too. Now come on, please stop crying, we're making too much noise. Really, otherwise it'll be easier for those things to find—oh shit. Oh fuck."

"What? Oh God, what's happening?"

"I just—I think I heard something."

"What? You're not serious. I thought you said we were safe—"

"Calm down! Now. On the count of three, run to the other end of the library, where the checkout desk is, alright? One, two three—fuck, they're here—!"

* * *

_Six Weeks Earlier…_

"And now onto a more serious topic. Representatives from Hoshigaki Enterprises have told reporters from KTV that the company is currently looking into houses that receive their household water supply from them," said Kurenai, reading off the teleprompter next to the cameraman in front of her. "Roughly five hundred people have been quarantined thus far, only a fraction of an estimated ten thousand people who use Hoshigaki Enterprises as their water supplier. A spokesman for the CEO of Hoshigaki Enterprises, Hoshigaki Kisame, said that they were doing everything in their power to keep this pandemic under control, and that symptoms do not manifest themselves in every individual. But for now, until further tests can be carried out on patients, all we can do is wait, and hope for the best. Speaking now from the KTV news centre, this is Yuuhi Kurenai. Goodnight."

"Nice one, Kurenai," Sarutobi Asuma said, grinning at his fiancée as she got out of her seat and made her way to him.

"Thanks," she replied, pecking him on the cheek. "And thanks for switching to Hozuki Supplies when you did, otherwise, well. I would have been speaking about what the quarantine was like from first-hand experience," she added with a smile.

"Ah. Well, seems like my dad's penny-pinching ways have actually rubbed off on me in a good way. For once." Asuma's hand began twitching, though he tried to shrug it off by shoving it in his pocket, something which didn't escape Kurenai.

She raised an eyebrow, chiding, "No smoking on private property now, remember?"

"I remember, I remember," Asuma said, waving her off with his free hand. "Stupid new regulations. I don't need a smoke _that_ badly, anyway."

"Of course you don't," Kurenai said sardonically, patting him on the shoulder. "But really now, you should think of quitting. I mean, it could really harm the baby, even if it's just second-hand smoke. There were all these cases of babies being born addicted to smoking just because their parents do it. I would know, I was the one reporting on them."

"Don't worry about it. Really. I haven't smoked around you since we found out about your pregnancy, have I? I'm cutting down, anyway. Waste of money, if you ask me."

Kurenai laughed and pecked her fiancé on the cheek again.

"Come on, let's go home. We have to finish decorating the baby's room."

Asuma smiled and took his hand out of his pocket, draping it around Kurenai's shoulders instead and using his free one to wave to their co-workers goodnight.

"Alright then. Home it is."

They never reached home.

* * *

**Die, Everyone's Doing It**

by allurement

_Chapter 1:_ Apocalypse Please

* * *

"We haven't seen Kankuro or Ino in days. Think any of the others have?"

"Doesn't seem like it."

"Shit," Naruto said, turning around to face me. "You don't think—you don't think _they've_ got them, do you?"

"Nah," I said. "If they did, we'd have heard about it already. Ino's too much of a diva to die quietly."

This seemed to cheer Naruto up considerably. I grinned, trying to add conviction to my words, but all it did was make me want to throw up—which I would have, had I anything in my stomach in the first place.

"Come on," I added. "Let's go see if the vending machines are clear now."

"Yeah." Naruto got up to follow me. "Thanks, Kiba."

"No worries. How much longer until we have to meet up with the others?"

Naruto glanced down at his watch. Mine had broken a couple of days ago, so I had constantly been bugging the douche for the time, something I don't think he appreciated very much.

"About fifty minutes. Don't worry, we've got time."

"Even if a herd of zombies are blocking our path to the rendezvous point?"

"Come on, Kiba," Naruto said, flashing a grin like he used to. "It's _us_, remember? We could take on hundreds of those bastards any day."

I laughed. Stupid, bigheaded, fucking genius.

* * *

"I fucking hate Kit-Kats," grumbled Naruto, tearing open a bar of said chocolate.

"Quit your complaining and just be grateful we didn't have to smash in anybody's head to get to them," I muttered, already having devoured my first bar. I picked up a packet of Cadbury's Caramel and began unwrapping it. God knows we need all the calories we can get now.

We were sitting in one of the girls' locker rooms, exhausted and miserable. Ironic, really, since both of us would have killed to have been here a couple of months ago. Before all this crazy shit popped up and I had to stay back after lessons for something other than detention.

Basically, I wasn't quite sure what had happened, but zombies took over the country, possibly even the whole world. Yeah, dramatic, I know, but I am actually being serious. And I know you guys are thinking about those rotting stink-like-shit mofos who walk with their hands in front of them and drool acid or something.

Well, then, you're spot on.

I really had no idea what was going on at all. No one that I know that's still alive, at least, has heard anything from civilisation since, well, before the Incident. All I—as well as everyone around me, for that matter—knew was that around a couple of months ago, the biggest water supplier in Japan announced that they had accidentally—_accidentally_, the fucktards—dumped a load of chemical shit into their… reservoir… things. So yeah, about seventy percent of the country's household got supplied with some crap that made them go batshit insane once they drank it and then turn into zombies. Great.

Luckily, my mom, who I haven't seen for over a month, was under Hozuki Suppliers—who, might I add, had a field day when word of the leakage got out—so we were safe. So were my friends. Actually, most of our area was under Hozuki Suppliers, seeing as how the company's headquarters were situated in the neighbouring town. But all that meant was that the epidemic reached us later rather than sooner.

Apparently, the zombies double as vampires. And not the sparkly, romantic-bullshit kind that Ino and Sakura are into either.

Their bite is almost always fatal. And once their saliva gets into someone's body, whatever shit they have in their system spreads like wildfire. Before the victim even dies, the poison-slash-virus will have fully circulated his or her body, instantly corrupting every organ and system in it, and bam, zombie reproduction is complete.

My friends and I were probably the only people in Konoha that hadn't been zombie-fied yet.

And we were stuck in school, of _all_ places, fending for our lives.

During summer.

Fuck my life.

* * *

"Okay, time for a head count," Shikamaru said, rubbing his temples as everyone else sat on the floor and slumped against one another.

I looked around. Along with Shikamaru, Naruto, and myself, Neji, Temari, Sakura, Hinata, Sasuke, and Shino had managed to make it to the rendezvous spot in the storage room at the back of a former biology classroom.

"Almost one hundred percent attendance," I mused. "It's just—"

"Hey," Naruto said, squinting around the room. "Ino and Kankuro aren't here."

I would have slapped the dumb blond round the head for interrupting me, but a hush had fallen on the group.

"D-do you think t-they're…" stuttered Hinata, but she couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence.

"Hey." I put my arm around her shoulder. Fourteen years of knowing the girl and she still flinched whenever I touched her. Jokes. "They'll be fine. Probably a bit battered and bruised—"

"Kiba!" came a few reproves.

Seriously. What was with these people interrupting me? They needed to suck me off to make it up to me or something.

… Or maybe not.

"—but then again, aren't we all?" I grinned at Hinata, but she knew me too well to be fooled by it. "Seriously. They'll come back. They're probably just being held up by something. Like. Um. Make-up. We all know how the two of them love their make-up, after all, right?"

Hinata smiled weakly and looked at her feet, making me feel instantly guilty. Ever since we were kids, Hinata was a shy, quiet girl. And because I am neither shy nor quiet (nor a girl), I guess I'd always felt the need to protect her. It had always been the three of us all throughout the years, Hinata, Shino and I. We met in kindergarten, and there we were in high school. Through thick, thin, and zombies.

Shino, obviously sensing Hinata's funk too, joined in, "He's right, Hinata. Ino and Kankuro probably just got held up by something."

"It's my fault," Shikamaru muttered. "I was the one that told them it'd be a good idea for them to go to the mall. Get whatever stocks and stuff they could."

"Don't," interjected Sakura. "Don't blame yourself, Shikamaru. Like Kiba and Shino said, they'll be alright. And it's not like you purposely sent them out there to be slaughtered."

"Yeah," I added, my eyes lingering on Sakura. "Don't worry about it, man. I bet you that right now, they're even—"

A loud crash was heard.

My eyebrow twitched. Seriously, if one more person fucking interrupts me, I'll—

Oh _fuck_.

"Shit," Sasuke swore. "They know we're here. Quick, grab something."

He needn't have told us twice. Before he had even finished the sentence, all of us had grabbed something large and heavy within arms' reach. I handed Hinata a long, jagged rod—probably broken off of a metal frame or something—and grabbed a nearby stool for myself.

Sasuke held up a hand to signal all of us to be quiet, and reached into his pocket to pull out a gun. Jesus fucking Christ, Uchiha Sasuke just _had_ to be different, didn't he? Where did he even _get _that?

We could hear them, the zombies, milling into the room, droning on as they tried to find their next meal. I don't even know how they knew we were in there; it's not like they have proper, functioning noses to sniff us out with or something. I think.

"Okay," Sasuke said, barely moving his lips. Fucking robot. "Now!"

Before any of us could register what he was doing, he had leapt at the door of the storage room and jumped out, shooting two zombies in the head.

Fucking Uchiha. Always had to be the centre of attention.

Well, there was no going back from there, so after a final goodbye glance to everyone else, I ran out after him, closely followed by Neji, and then the others.

There were about what, thirty zombies in the room? Well, twenty now, Sasuke had taken out a few, and Neji and I had each gotten a couple. Sweet.

I had to admit, the first two weeks of fighting off the zombies was horrific. But after a while, the innate warrior came out in all of us, even Hinata, and we sort of became robust zombie-killing—uh, destroying, I mean—machines. Which was probably the only good thing that would ever come out of this ordeal, I mused as I grabbed the corner of a table, resting most of my weight on it before pushing down to give me enough leverage to bring my foot up and kick an oncoming zombie in the face. As it stumbled backwards, I quickly grabbed my stool and whacked around the head, smirking in satisfaction as it fell to the ground, unmoving.

My head snapped up when I heard a high pitch scream; Hinata was being cornered by two zombies, her weapon laying abandoned a few feet away from her.

"Shit," I breathed, panicking and momentarily forgetting about the zombie behind me. "Hinata!"

I tried to run over to help her, but the zombie I left unattended to grabbed my shoulder, pulling me backwards. I swung my stool back, the corner of the seat hitting it right in the centre of its forehead. The hand around my arm suddenly became limp and it slumped to the floor. That's the trick with zombies. You have to make sure you hit them on the head, otherwise it's pointless.

I turned back to Hinata. She was whimpering, one of the zombies having already grabbed hold of her. The other had backed her up against one of the counters and was leaning in for a—oh fuck this—

Oh. Okay then. Um.

Just as I had leapt over a couple of Undead bodies to try to save Hinata, Temari had appeared from out of nowhere, smashing her elbow down against one of the zombies' heads so it crashed down on the shards of broken glass on the counter, piercing its skull, brain gunk oozing out everywhere—fucking disgusting—and driving Hinata's weapon into the other one's head.

… I always thought that girl was a bit too butch.

"Nice one, Temari," Neji said, unfazed by the events that had just unfolded. "I think we got all of them. Hinata, are you okay?"

"Y-y-yes," Hinata said shakily, taking her weapon from Temari. "T-T-Thank you, Temari-s-s-an."

"Hey, no problem, kiddo," Temari said, giving her an uneasy smile.

"How long did that take?" Sasuke asked.

"About ten minutes, all in all," Sakura replied, panting. "One of our fastest times yet, I think."

"We better get out of here, then," Shino piped up. "Their friends might have heard us or something."

"Can't we rest for a bit? I mean, how do we know if their ears even work?" Naruto complained.

Everyone stared at him. Seriously, what a fucking dipshit. If Hinata wasn't crazy about him, I'd have probably smashed his face in a long time ago.

"Want to stick around to find out?" Sasuke said. "Be my guest. But I'm going to get the hell out of here."

There was a murmur of agreement. Even Naruto, dumb as he was, didn't want to hang around and try his luck.

"But where can we go now?" Sakura said, now preoccupied with comforting a still-shaken Hinata.

"I don't know. We know that most of the zombies have a hard time getting up to the top floor, plus our notes from last week are still there," Shikamaru said thoughtfully. "Want to give the place a go?"

When no one looked like they were about to protest, Shikamaru walked up to the doorway of the classroom and slowly peered around the corner.

"Alright, the coast is clear," he said, signalling for us to follow him.

We creeped out behind him, Naruto and Neji being the last ones out. As soon as we left the desecrated classroom, Naruto and Neji turned around and grabbed Shino's and Sakura's arms, respectively. This was sort of a new technique of ours to make sure we had three sixty vision when on the move, just in case. It made whoever was behind look like a fucking douche, but it couldn't be helped. Some zombies made no sound at all until they were right up and fucking close to you.

"Damn," Temari said, as we passed by an empty vending machine. "We're almost out of ready food."

"Of course," muttered Shikamaru matter-of-factly. "Do you think I would have sent your brother and Ino out if we didn't have to? It's bad enough in here; think of what it must be like out _there_."

No one said anything as we reached the stairs and began to walk up it, Sakura limping because of an injury she got a couple of days ago.

"Here," I said. "Temari, guide Neji, while I help Sakura up the stairs." I grabbed Neji's shoulder as Sakura and Temari switched places, and once Neji had a firm hold of Temari, I let go and turned my attention to Sakura. She smiled and put an arm around my shoulders, which I held, and I placed an arm around her waist, gently hoisting her up each step, taking some of the weight off of her still-swollen ankle.

"Thanks, Kiba," she whispered, her matted pink hair tickling my neck.

"No problem," I said weakly, looking up to see how many more steps we had to go.

"Kiba," Sakura said, bending her arm and squeezing my shoulder a bit, "what's going to happen to us?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, even though I knew perfectly well what she was talking about.

"I mean," she said. "I mean, what happens after this? Is it really—"

Everyone froze simultaneously, glancing at one another to confirm that we hadn't just imagined what we had heard.

Seconds later came another scream.

And then—

"Kankuro!"

"_Ino_," I breathed.

* * *

**A/N:**

A very belated graduation present for **ohwhatsherface**, who wanted zombie!fic. To be honest, I wouldn't have written it as soon as this, but all of my documents (including chapters for ongoing fic and a couple of one-shots like _my beautiful Fugaku/femme!Minato_) were just lost forever, and I grieved and grieved because my beautiful babies were taken away from me, & I just. Was very unmotivated. Until now. So. Enjoy! :D

Also, Annie wishes to express her love for me over the internet, so, you know, who am I to say no?


	2. Blackout

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

**Warning:** Contains violence, gore and strong language.

* * *

"_We've been stuck here for a little over a day, Kankuro. Shouldn't we go and find what room the others are in now?"_

"_The school is massive. We'd have literally no idea where they would be. It'd be impossible to evade the zombies_ and _lug around all of this stuff. You know how much trouble we went to get it; we can't just waste it all because we're getting a bit lonely."_

"_Yeah, I—you're right. You're right. I just—I just. I don't know. I don't know anything anymore."_

"_Well, at least we still have our own minds to not know with, right? I mean, Hoshigaki Enterprises royally fucked us all up."_

"_Mmm. Like, you know how my dad's a field reporter, right?"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_Well, about a week after the leakage was first reported, he went there to snoop around, see what he could find, you know?"_

"_God, he found out some twisted shit, didn't he? Didn't he, Ino?"_

"_Oh, he did. It was never formally released, because once he double-checked everything, it was already too late. But he told me some stuff—"_

"_Isn't that like, unprofessional and against the rules?"_

"_Yeah, but you know… _zombies_. I think Dad knew something was going to happen to him after a couple of colleagues of his got bitten, so he told me. I don't know why—he probably thought the information might protect me or something, but. I just. Well, yeah. Anyway, he said that the leakage wasn't as accidental as the executives at Hoshigaki Enterprises wanted us to believe."_

"_Wait—what? Have the zombie fumes mixed with your hair bleach or something, or did you just—"_

"_You heard me, Barbie boy."_

"_But… _why_?"_

"_God knows. I mean, what could _anyone_ gain from turning everyone into mindless, flesh-eating droids? But that's what Dad said. He told me that he was poking and prying around one day, undercover as an employee, when he stumbled across a room with all of these plans about the chemicals that were leaked."_

"_So?"_

"_So? Think about it, Kankuro. Why would a water supply company even have chemicals this dangerous in such large quantities in the first place?"_

"_They wouldn't."_

"_Exactly. It makes no sense, you know? So Dad began a bit more research. He found out that even though the representatives from Hoshigaki Enterprises said they reported the leakage as soon as it occurred, that it actually happened two weeks prior to their report. He asked other employees a few questions, found out that their bosses had made them switch to a slightly different water supply plan, albeit still under their company. Obviously, it all seemed really suspicious, so all Dad needed was a motive, and bam, KTV's Reporter of the Year Award would be his. Then he—he…"_

"_It's alright, Ino. Don't worry about it, yeah?"_

"_Yeah. It's just—shit, what was that?"_

"_Fuck, they've found us. Quick, under the table now, before—oof!"_

"_Kankuro!"_

"_Ino, run! Leave the stuff here, just get out!"_

"_No, dipshit, I'll—"_

"_Just get out of here now! I—argh!"_

"_Oh my God. Oh my fucking God—"_

"_Ino, get out of here! I've been bitten already, just go! Hurry up before more come! Don't… don't…"_

"_Kankuro, God. Oh God. Kankuro, get up. Get up, Kankuro, fight it! Fight—oh God, Kankuro, please. Please, for fuck's sake, just. I. Oh God. Kankuro!"_

_

* * *

_

**Die, Everyone's Doing It**

by allurement

_Chapter 2_: Blackout

* * *

No one else has a scream like Ino, I'll tell you that. Even for a girl's, it's ridiculously high-pitched, personifying every stereotypical female characteristic, only multiplied by about twenty.

Much like Ino herself, really.

Which was why when her muffled screams reached our ears, all of us, save Naruto and Neji, immediately wheeled around and headed back down the stairs, rushing to find her before it was too late.

"Where's the sound coming from?" Neji asked as we reached the end of the corridor. He and Naruto had abandoned the whole three-sixty-degrees vision technique. We figured, what the hell, we were going to get some zombie lovin' either way.

I paused momentarily before saying, "The left." Everyone followed my direction without question. Malnutrition or not, my hearing was second to none.

"I hear Ino screaming," Temari said quietly.

Really, Temari? Really, now? I had no idea. I thought we were just following the pretty fairies that said that they were going to take us to the unicorns.

"Don't worry. I'm sure Kankuro's fine," Sakura reassured her, wincing slightly at having to run with an injured foot. "Just because he's not as dramatic as Ino, doesn't mean he's not alive."

… Oh, yeah. Her brother.

We found Ino soon enough, in one of the old art classrooms, surrounded by about a dozen zombies. A few bodies were scattered about the room, telling us that Ino had already taken care of a few; zombie corpses tend to turn into dust after a day or two. Very eco-friendly of them, really. I was almost proud of Ino—she had come so far from when the zombies first attacked. Now, at least she wasn't afraid to chip a nail. She was a half decent fighter, too.

"About time you guys got here," the blonde muttered bitterly, elbowing a zombie in the stomach before smashing a chair over its head.

"Impatient as ever, that Ino," Naruto mumbled, grinning as he managed to stab two zombies in the head with some scissors lying around. "Try a little gratitude, will you?"

"I _am_ grateful," Ino retorted. "I just would have been a bit more grateful if you guys could have made it a little bit sooner."

"Well, we're here now," Sasuke said, pulling out his gun and shooting the remaining zombies. I think it goes without saying that his aim was perfect every time.

Urgh, _whatever_, Uchiha Sasuke. Real men don't take short cuts.

Or follow paedophilic Biology teachers around just so that they can get a good grade.

Yeah. How do you feel _now_?

"Where's Kankuro?" Temari asked suddenly.

Ino froze, the small smile on her lips dying, and looked at the other girl with an expression we knew all too well.

"I'm sorry," she said, looking down at her feet.

"No," Temari said, eyes suspiciously bright. "No, I—not Kankuro. He didn't—tell me he didn't—"

"I'm sorry," Ino repeated, moving towards Temari. "It just happened so fast—"

"No!" Temari yelled, flinching when Ino tried to pull her into a hug. "No, you're—you're lying!"

"Temari," Sakura whispered, putting her hand on the older girl's shoulder and pointing to some spot in the corner of the room. "Look."

Sure enough, Kankuro's corpse laid there, his skin grey with varicose veins, eyes wide open, glassy and lifeless. There was blood and mucus oozing from his skull, but what really completed the picture, so to say, was his jugular. The area was clearly infected; there was what looked like a massive ulcer surrounded by pus.

The sight must have been too much for Naruto, who took a few steps back from his spot next to me before turning and retching.

"Kankuro," Temari breathed. "Oh my God, _Kankuro_!"

Now, I'm the type of guy who doesn't mind watching sappy romances, and I'm not all that uncomfortable with crying girls, having made a few of them cry myself back in the good ol' pre-zombie days. But even I have to admit that the scene was hard for me to watch. I mean, this was Temari. She wasn't _supposed_ to break down, because… she was _Temari_. Heart of stone; nothing was supposed to faze her. The last time we saw her like this was when… well…

… when her younger brother Gaara died.

Temari made a move to rush over to Kankuro, but Neji held her back.

"Don't," he warned, voice stern, but eyes sympathetic. "We don't know how this virus works; whether it dies when its host does or whether it continues living until it turns to dust."

"Do I look like I care?" Temari screamed. No one, not even Sasuke, asked her to try to keep her voice down. "My brother just _died_. I—_Kankuro_. He's my kid brother! I'm supposed to watch out for him, and… and…"

Temari broke down, all but collapsing onto Neji, crying on his shoulder. Neji clearly looked uncomfortable, but made no move to pass her onto someone else.

We stayed like this for a few minutes, the room being silent save for Temari's quiet sobbing. I looked around; Hinata, Sakura, and Ino were crying. Even Naruto had to rub his eyes occasionally.

"We better get going," Shino said softly, moving to the door. "There's a chance they might come back here. If we go to the room on the top floor, we'll be able to rest there for a few days without any trouble."

I nodded. He was right. From observation, we had found out some time ago that zombies walk kind of weirdly. And by weird, I mean that they don't bend their legs when they walk. Actually, they don't bend anything much. Shikamaru and Sakura hypothesised that the virus did something to their joints by… doing something that I didn't understand, so stopped trying to. Yeah.

Anyway, in theory, that meant that getting up staircases and such would prove difficult, though technically doable, to them. Our school also has elevators for disabled students and workers with heavy loads, but I guess using them never occurred to the zombies. Lucky for us, really.

So that was how we found our hide-out. An old IT room which we quickly turned into our headquarters, so to speak. We raided old mats from the school gym, a couple of microwaves, bowls, plates, and cutlery from the home economics department, and a map from a geography classroom. We didn't really need the map, but Naruto insisted, the loser.

After grabbing the supplies Ino and Kankuro had gotten from the mall ten minutes away, we headed back to the staircase to the top floor. We didn't want to risk heading to the elevators; they were pretty loud and too slow for us.

Once we reached headquarters, all of us simultaneously collapsed onto the heap of gym mats.

"Hey, Shika, pass me one of the backpacks. The navy one, please," Ino mumbled from her spot on the floor.

"Urgh, troublesome," Shikamaru said, but complied anyway.

Ino sat up, accepting the large bag, and opened it, pulling out half a dozen zipped-up, see-through plastic bags.

"What's that?" Sakura asked.

"Hold on, Forehead," the blonde said, and proceeded to chuck one each to Hinata, Sakura, Naruto, Shino and myself. "Open it."

When we did, we realised they were blankets, compressed in the plastic bags. Real, soft as fuck blankets.

A little piece of heaven.

"We put them in those bag things that suck the air out from inside with a vacuum cleaner," Ino explained. "Didn't have enough space for one for all of us, but we figured we could share."

"Nice," Shikamaru murmured. "What else did you get?"

"Mmm, well, a few weapons," Ino replied, pulling out two knife sets.

"Whoa, those are massive," Naruto said, taking one off of Ino. "Nice."

"Five new phones, all with SIM cards and chargers," Ino continued. "We'd have to keep them on silent mode all the time, though, obviously. And that's it for this bag. The bigger one over there has all the food. Mostly canned food, but we got some stuff from the frozen section, which we'd have to finish in a couple of weeks, I'd say, before they go off. And some ramen, for Naruto."

"You are truly an angel," the idiot said immediately, draping an arm around Ino. "Be mine forever."

"I don't think Hinata would appreciate that much," Ino said dryly, but made no move to remove Naruto's arm. "There's a lot of energy bars and drinks, quite a few snacks for us to carry around and stuff. Vegetables and fruits were all bad, so no tomatoes for Sasuke, sorry, and, um, yeah. That's about it, I think. Oh, and Kankuro put a couple of bottles of alcohol in there."

"That is… a lot of stuff," Sakura commented, eyeing the bag.

"It's a large bag."

"Wasn't it hard for you guys to get around with all that stuff?" Shikamaru asked.

"Not really," Ino said. "It was hard to sneak around, sure. But these things are damn heavy. They would knock the wind out of anyone, including zombies. So they made pretty good weapons."

As Shino, Hinata and Sakura began to unpack everything and put them away, Shikamaru got up and dragged Ino over to the planning board. I stood up and followed them, because… well, I had nothing better to do.

"How was the mall?" Shikamaru queried.

"Surprisingly empty," Ino replied, leaning against the teacher's desk. "There was literally no one—or nothing for that matter—there. Even the zombies aren't there. We're really choosing the wrong place to be held up at, you know?"

"The zombies aren't there because there's no food there for them," Shikamaru said. "If we moved there, they'd just follow us. Plus, we aren't as familiar with the place as we are with the school."

"Speak for yourself," Ino muttered, folding her arms against her chest.

Something didn't add up, though. "Hey, Ino," I said, taking a seat on the floor. "If it didn't take you much time to get there and collect the supplies, how come it took you so long coming back to school?"

"It didn't," the blonde replied. She sighed and closed her eyes. "It took us about four hours to get there and back. But the zombies must have sensed us leaving or something, and there were literally dozens upon dozens of them droning around the main gates. There was no way the two of us could have gotten past them like that, so we camped out in a nearby house. It was abandoned, so the owner must have been one of the zombies down there. We were there for, what, two or three days? It was pretty nice, to be honest. Kankuro found some of their bills—the old owner was signed up with Hozuki Supplies, so we had showers, ate their food, slept in their beds. It was almost normal," she added a little sadly.

"Then?"

"Well, we staked out outside the school during random times, and well, the zombies never left. So we just waited until we heard this noise coming from inside the school that attracted about half of them inside to make our move. It was like, what, two days ago?"

"Oh yeah," I said, remembering the incident. "I was there. Naruto accidentally made the basketball hoops in the gym collapse. God knows how."

"Either way, it helped us get in," Ino continued. "We hid out in the library for a day before they found us, then we moved to the art room you guys found us in. We were just talking a bit, you know? To pass time. That's when the zombies came. They took us completely by surprise; we thought we were safe, so we let our guard down."

"Don't worry about it," Shikamaru said, placing a hand on Ino's shoulder. "There was always a risk something would have happened. It was just a risk Kankuro was willing to take. Now, go get some rest, you've had a hard time. I'll wake you up tomorrow, yeah?"

"Okay. Thanks, Shika," Ino said, smiling at her friend. "Night, Kiba. See you guys tomorrow."

Six weeks of hell, and the girl still managed to stay gorgeous. It's a wonder how she did it.

"Hey, Shikamaru," I said, once Ino had snuggled up under a blanket with Sakura. I glanced around to see what the others were doing. With the exception of Sasuke and Temari, everyone was retiring for the night. I scowled as I saw Naruto pull Hinata under the covers with him. I swear, if that pervert so much as _touches_ her during the night, I will fuck his goddamn shit up.

"What?" Shikamaru said, walking to the nearest computer. He sat down at it and turned it on.

I followed him, pulling out a nearby chair and placing it next to him before sitting on it.

"You're following me," he said without looking at me.

Nice one, genius.

"How long is this going to last for?" I asked in a low voice, ignoring his previous comment. "We can't live like this forever. We have to do something, get in touch with other survivors—there _are_ other survivors, aren't there?"

"Obviously," Shikamaru said. "Whether there are any left in Japan or not, I have no idea."

"What?"

Shikamaru closed his eyes, sighed, and continued, "The reason for this pandemic in the first place is because of the chemical spill, which occurred only in Japan, and we're so isolated from the rest of the world geographically, that it'd be impossible for them to go abroad; in theory, they wouldn't have the stamina to swim, and there's no way they can fly planes. Therefore, I'm almost positive the rest of the world is unaffected. Plus, the news reports don't hurt my theory either."

"Any news reports from Japan?"

"'Fraid not," Shikamaru said, opening his eyes to scan a news webpage. "Been all dead on the Nippon front. The funny thing is, other countries aren't really interested in what's going on here. Pretty weird, considering how the western world love to pry their noses in our business."

"Not the right time to be bitter, man," I said, flashing a grin.

Shikamaru shrugged. "Meh, there's never a right time. Anyway, I managed to hack into the KTV news webpage, so I'm going to post some things on there now. See whether anyone replies to us. That will answer one of your questions, at least."

"And what happens if there are some? Survivors, I mean," I persisted. "Where do we go from there? You're supposed to be some genius chess strategist or whatever, surely you must have some sort of plan."

Shikamaru paused, as if contemplating something. His brow furrowed and he let out a breath I didn't know he was even holding in.

"I don't know, Kiba. I really don't."

* * *

**A/N:** Dedicated to Annie because she wanted it to be. Plus, she loves me so much, I would not want to break her little heart now, would I? ;D

Oh yeah, also because she is a pretty awesome BETA.


	3. Dark Shines

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Naruto_.

**Warning:** Contains violence, gore and strong language.

* * *

"Temari? What are you still doing up?"

"What—oh. Kiba. It's you."

"No need to sound so thrilled. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry about it. Go back to sleep. Sorry for waking you up."

"You know, you're a pretty shit liar, Temari. Obviously you're not okay. I mean… Kankuro…"

"Nah, it's alright. Heh, it's a wonder that moron even lasted this long. I'm just—I don't know. It's only been a month since Gaara died, and now I've gone and lost Kankuro, too. And I know this sounds irrational, but I can't help but feel that I'm the only one that actually… that actually _cares_, you know?"

"Not really. Listen, Temari, all of us—even Neji and Sasuke, though they won't admit it—are shaken up by what happened to Kankuro. I mean, this is the first time one of us has actually turned into a zombie. Usually, they just… I don't know, dragged the others off somewhere and we'd never see them again. But Kankuro…"

"Yeah, I know. I don't like to think about it. And just… I kept thinking about Ino. What she must have felt when she killed him—because she did, obviously—"

"She did the right thing, though. Because—because Kankuro wasn't technically _alive_ anymore, and he would have killed her—"

"I know. I know that, Kiba. I know that she made the right choice. I'm not questioning it. I just… It must have been hard, no? To just see your comrade like that. I don't know how she could have done it. I mean, I think to myself, if _I_ had been the one that was facing him instead of her, would I have done it? And no matter how many times I tell myself that he wouldn't have been my brother anymore, I _know_ I wouldn't have been able to do what she did."

"Of course. I mean, you've known him your whole life; obviously it would be harder for you. And he's your younger brother and… yeah. Plus, Ino's a bit of a cow, anyway, so, you know."

"I used to think that before this whole zombie thing. Then, I don't know. Either she changed, or my perceptions of other people changed."

"Maybe both. You should really try to sleep, you know."

"I know, Kiba. But I can't. I don't see how everyone else can, after what we saw. Especially Ino."

"You forget, Temari, that most of us have had two encounters with zombies today. Hinata had a near-death experience, which she was saved from, thanks to you. Sakura had an injury that the zombies didn't exactly make any better. Most of us haven't slept in two days; three for Ino, according to what she told me and the pineapple. We _are_ upset. Believe me, Temari, we are. Like I said, even Neji and Sasuke are affected, and you know what they're like. Maybe they're taking it better than you, but come on. It's Hyuuga and Uchiha."

"True."

"What I'm trying to say is—I don't know. But like, we're shit-sleepy. We're out there doing stuff that we frankly don't have the energy for. So, you know. Grief or not, our bodies are going to crash at the next opportunity regardless. But it's not because we don't care."

"Yeah, I know. I know, Kiba. I was just—I was just being irrational. It's hard."

"'Course it is. And I'm sorry, Temari. I really am."

"God, for some reason, I just keep remembering this one time, when I was thirteen—Kankuro had just turned twelve—and he came back from his first day of middle school about an hour after I did, and we both went to the same school. But he came home eventually, and my dad was going to yell at him for something—it was so long ago, I've forgotten what already—but when Kankuro stepped through the door, Dad just stood there, horrified at the sight of his eldest son with make-up all over his face."

"Oh God. So that…"

"Yep. That was the first time."

"How did—"

"Some girls found his dolls in his schoolbag. Fuck knows why he even brought them in, that massive girl. But yeah, this was back when cooties still existed, and boys and girls played separately. Which is why it was kind of surprising—well… not _really_, given the whole dolls thing, but you know what I mean—when they invited him to play with them instead. And I don't know, maybe they stole some of their mothers' make-up or something and wanted someone to try it on."

"And he let them?"

"Judging by how the make-up was done, he must have been keeping pretty still."

"… Are you sure that you don't only have one brother?"

"Nope, and it's been eighteen years."

"Meh, always knew he was a bit of a wacko."

"Yeah… Kiba?"

"Hm?"

"Thanks. For you know, letting me talk about it and stuff."

"No problem, Temari. Come on, we really should try to sleep now. Tomorrow is a new day, after all."

"Is it? All the days seemed to have blended into one lately."

"It is."

"And what will we be waking up to?"

"Hope."

"You don't really believe that, do you?"

"Not entirely. But it's the only thing we've got right now."

* * *

**Die, Everyone's Doing It**

by allurement

_Chapter 3: _Dark Shines

* * *

"Are you even listening to me? I said you need to _stop_ doing reckless shit like this!"

My eyes snapped open. I sat up groggily and rubbed my eyes. Judging from the stream of light filtering through the thin curtains covering the windows, it was probably late morning or early afternoon.

"Tch, you are so—"

"Don't you _dare_ finish that sentence, Uchiha Sasuke," warned Sakura.

I rubbed my eyes, noting that I was the only one, save Shikamaru, that had still been asleep before the row broke out.

"You're awake," Ino murmured darkly from her seat next to me, putting down her nail file. "Finally. I know Shika's practically dead to the world when he's asleep, but I'm surprised you didn't wake up the moment those two started going at it."

She rolled her eyes and went back to filing her nails.

Heh. I guess old habits really do die hard.

"What happened this time?" I whispered, not wanting to draw any unwanted attention to myself.

Ino glanced at me and smirked. She pointed her nail file in my direction, and, grinning, asked, "Why so interested in Romeo and Juliet's affairs, huh?"

I blanched. For a self-proclaimed ditz, she was pretty perceptive.

"Come on, Kiba," she said at the look on my face. "It's pretty obvious."

"I have no idea what you're going on about, Ino," I lied. What was I to do? Ino had the biggest mouth I've ever seen on a girl, and despite our current predicament in zombie-world, I didn't think Naruto or Sasuke—particularly the latter—would be too impressed with where my thoughts were straying to as of late.

"_Sure_ you don't," the blonde said with a knowing look in her eyes. "Don't worry, Kiba. I won't tell anyone."

… _Sure_ she wouldn't.

"Whatever," I muttered, turning my attention back to Sakura and Sasuke. "Seriously, though, what happened?"

"Sasuke went out this morning without telling anyone, being Sasuke and all. I think he just wanted some fresh air or something. He came back about an hour ago, and ever since, Sakura's been throwing a fit. You know how worried she gets about Naruto and him."

"Yeah," I said absentmindedly.

"Don't worry," Ino assured me with a wink. "I mean, Sasuke may be ethereally _beautiful_, but _I_ personally think you're a lot more fun. Besides, they've already been on that cruise, honey, and obviously something was wrong with it, seeing as they've never rebooked."

I spared the girl a glance, before zoning out. I knew Sakura and Sasuke had dated briefly. You'd probably have to have been deaf not to, what with half the school's female population simultaneously bursting into tears the moment the couple had first walked into the cafeteria during one lunchtime, hand-in-hand.

Their break-up was as subtle as their getting together. They were pretty silent about it, but you could tell from the _hope_ the other girls suddenly had that something was up with them. No one knows why they did, except maybe Naruto, but what with the two being his best friends, the loud-mouth kept quiet for once during the whole affair.

As far as break-ups went, theirs was tame. I mean, if it weren't for Sasuke's horde of fangirls, it would have gone almost unnoticed. They still talked to one another—or rather, Sakura still talked and Sasuke still listened—and ate their lunches together, and carpooled with Naruto.

It was, in all, pretty mind-boggling.

"Okay, okay, enough," Shikamaru said, cutting into the argument, eyes still closed.

"I—Shikamaru? You heard—"

"How you two ruined the best night's and only nap I've had in the past three weeks?" Shikamaru said, sitting up. "Pretty much. Whatever, now I'm up, we have some work to do. Ino, go turn on a computer and let's continue to research what your dad was looking into."

"Aw, man," Ino groaned. She stood up, shoving her nail file into the back pocket of her jeans and followed Shikamaru over to one of the computers.

Oh yeah. Those two were so fucking each other senseless.

I looked around. Sasuke and Sakura had stopped fighting—for now—which wasn't all that surprising, really. Everyone—even Sasuke—sort of looked up to Shikamaru in their own weird, twisted way, what with him being a mad genius and all.

"Kiba-kun?" Hinata's timid voice came from behind. "Do you want some food or anything?"

"I'm good, thanks," I said, turning around and smiling at the girl's stammer-free sentence. She could only talk coherently around Shino or me; even around her boyfriend, her speech was nervous, and I admit, that made me feel pretty damn special.

"Are you sure? There are a lot of things over there…"

"Don't worry about me. Really, I'm fine."

It was strange. Two months ago, I could and would have finished Kankuro and Ino's haul in one night; now, the mere sight of Naruto digging through one of the backpacks made me nauseous, like I had just eaten a six-course meal and couldn't fit another morsel of food in my mouth without throwing up.

"Come on," I said suddenly, standing up. I offered my hand to Hinata. "Let's go see what Pinky and the Brain are doing over there, yeah?"

She took my hand, and together, we made our way to the other side of the room, hovering over either side of Ino when we got there.

Shikamaru let out a sigh, obviously seeing us as a distraction, and pulled up a couple of chairs for us.

"Well, go on," Ino said, typing away. Her eyes never once left the screen. "Sit down and stop breathing on my neck, why don't you? Creeps me out more than the zombies do, even in broad daylight."

I let out a bark of laughter and Hinata stammered an apology before we sat down on the seats behind the blonde.

"So," I said, leaning forward and placing an elbow on the back of Ino's chair, "what are you guys looking up?"

"Just some background information about Hoshigaki Enterprises," Shikamaru said. "Ino's dad went undercover there a few weeks back and found some pretty dodgy stuff. He told Ino and my dad about it, but no one really thought anything about it until it was too late."

"Found something," said Ino. "Get this; apparently the company employed this guy, Orochimaru—doesn't have a last name, go figure—a chemist with extensive background knowledge on human neurology. I told you something was up. Seriously, Kankuro and I sort of talked about why a water supply company would even have the chemicals that zombify people, and now this. I know they need chemicals to like, purify the water and stuff, but _human neurology_? Why not hire some other run-of-the-mill _normal_ chemist?"

"His name looks kinda familiar…" I murmured.

"It should," said Shikamaru. "Orochimaru… He was that guy who was arrested and tried for doing those human experiments last year. Remember that? There was this massive trial, and everyone was so sure he was guilty, but he got let off because they couldn't find where he was supposedly cutting the people up."

"What?" I asked, puzzled. "Then how did he get a job with the largest water supply company in the country? I know they dropped the charges, but wasn't there a lot of bad press circulating him around the time of the trial? Like, wasn't he was accused of paedophilia?"

"From what I can recall," Shikamaru answered. "Again, no concrete proof, so he was acquitted."

"K-Kiba-kun's right," Hinata stuttered. "Hoshigaki Enterprises w-wouldn't have hired someone with such a b-bad reputation, would they?"

"They wouldn't have," Ino said. "They couldn't have afforded to be associated with someone like that. I mean, Shika and I were up since seven this morning trying to find something, _anything_, and only now we find out about this guy."

The girl had a point. Despite her attitude and outward appearance, I learned quickly after we were forced to hide out in school that Ino was an excellent hacker, being able to extract any information from a computer as if she were a mind-reader inside someone's head. Combined with Shikamaru's quick mind, they made quite the formidable pair, and it's a wonder that they hadn't hacked into the school's computer systems to get exam answers before this.

"The barriers they set up," Ino continued. "I almost didn't know they were there. We managed to get into their systems this morning and obtained access to the usual stuff: company history, employees, their backgrounds and wages, blah, blah, clients, you know, the _normal_ stuff."

"But…?"

"But…" Ino paused. "But there was something _off_ about it, you know? Like, it was almost too easy to get to the information. You'd think they would guard their clients' addresses, credit card details, all that, a bit better. Then there was this access portal I almost missed while skimming through one of their records that I just couldn't seem to get through. I won't bore you with specifics."

"That's when we knew that was where we needed to get into," Shikamaru continued, letting Ino get back to her work. "So I let Ino do the technical stuff while I took a nap—" Here, Ino scoffed; Shikamaru ignored her—"Hoshigaki Enterprises made their harmless records—well, unless you're a con artist, I suppose—easier to get to, so hackers wouldn't need to use such advanced programming in case they accidentally discovered what was _really_ there. Then, instead of putting the access portal to their incriminating records in a separate place, they blended it in with one of the 'harmless' ones. It was under a bogus client's name, right, Ino?"

"Yeah. In case a hacker who was looking for a specific name would just skim past it and never notice a thing."

I exchanged wary glances with Hinata. Jesus Christ, those two were freaking me out. All this wasted time at high school; they should have just opened up a detective agency and have been done with it.

"How did you know there was even anything to look for in the first place?"

"Well, we had our suspicions something was wrong," Shikamaru answered with a wry smile. "Like Ino's dad being there and all. Plus the logical anomalies of the company's story and all. So we decided to look into it. We knew it would have to be on their database, because they had to keep records _somehow_, and well, who keeps their files in a filing cabinet anymore?"

"Apparently, they do," Ino answered, her eyes never lifting from the screen. "There's nothing here, Shikamaru. And when I say nothing, I mean _nothing_. Like, no firewalls, security systems, password requests, nothing."

"Wait, so it was like, a decoy?" I asked incredulously. This was just getting ridiculous.

"Either that or someone deleted everything," Ino said, sighing. She leaned back against the chair and folded her arms. "Even the file on that Orochimaru guy was incomplete; looked like someone was trying to erase it but half-assed the job."

"So this is it?" Sasuke said from behind me.

I damn near had a heart attack; what the fuck _was_ that bastard, some sort of ninja?

"Pretty much," Ino said. "Unless you want to go all the way down to their headquarters or water… place and try digging around there."

When she received no reply, Ino turned around to look at Sasuke, only to see him with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Wait, wait, Sasuke, that was just a _joke_," Ino said quickly. "I mean, for one, we have no idea where the place even is—"

"You have their records right there. We could find out in five seconds."

"Wherever it is, it will be _far_—"

"We have all the time in the world—"

"And _dangerous_—"

"Because where we are right now is a safe haven."

"Plus, we don't even know if it'll be there or not!"

"Only one way to find out," Sasuke said determinedly.

Ino sighed, exasperated, and turned to Shikamaru for a voice of reason.

"He does have a point," Shikamaru said instead, causing Ino to throw her hands up in the air with a loud sigh.

"You boys are insane," she said, getting up from her seat. "Did the zombies eat your brains while the rest of us were sleeping or something? Because—"

"Guys!"

Everyone turned around to see Naruto bursting through the doors, pausing momentarily to regain his breath.

"A bit louder, dumbass; I think there were some zombies a couple of miles away who didn't quite hear you," Sasuke snapped irritably, rolling his eyes.

"Fuck you," Naruto spat, before a worried expression came over his face. "Guys," he continued, "I—something's—"

"What's wrong?" Neji asked.

"It's—it's Shino. They've killed him—the zombies have killed him."

* * *

**A/N: **It kind of hurt to kill Shino. But then again, it hurt even more to write him.

Thanks again to Annie, the amazing BETA, who corrects my failings and _tampers with my Author's Notes_. What would I do without her?


	4. Deadstar

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Naruto_.

**Warning: **Contains violence, gore and strong language.

* * *

_"Hi, I'm Inuzuka Kiba! What's your name?"_

_"I'm Aburame Shino."_

_"Wait, Aburame? Isn't your dad like, some famous bug expert or something?"_

_"Yes, he's an entomologist."_

_"An in-stomach-geese?"_

_"No… I said he was a… a bug expert."_

_"Oh. Isn't that what I just said? My mom's an animal doctor. She says she's going to get me a puppy for my fifth birthday! That's in three weeks! I can't wait. I've already picked out a name and everything! Akamaru—that's what I'm going to call my puppy. Do you have any pets, Shino?"_

_"I have a collection of approximately two hundred and forty seven termites. At last count, at least."_

_"That's… cool. I guess. Do you take them out for walks or something?"_

_"No. If I let them out of their container, they'd probably destroy my house."_

_"… Oh. That sounds… nice."_

_"Does it?"_

_"No, not really. It kind of creeps me out that you keep bugs as pets."_

_"Oh."_

_"Hey, Shino?"_

_"Yes?"_

_"Wanna be my new best friend?"_

_"Um… okay."_

_"Okay then! It's settled. Just don't get your pets near mine, okay? I don't want my puppy to have fleas."_

_"You mean termites."_

_"Same difference."_

* * *

**Die, Everyone's Doing It**

by allurement

_Chapter 4:_ Deadstar

* * *

Surprisingly, it was Hinata that broke the silence.

"W-What?" she whispered, her stammer for once not caused by her nervous disposition.

Naruto looked at his girlfriend, looking pained. He walked up to where she was sitting and kneeled down, pulling her into a tight hug and saying, "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"What happened?" I asked harshly.

"I—I needed to go to the washroom earlier," Naruto explained, pulling away from Hinata. "But the ones on this floor were out of order, and the floor below doesn't have anything. So I had to go to the ones on the second floor, and Shino—he offered to come with me, 'cause he said it wasn't—wasn't safe to go by myself."

"Then?"

"We got there, and everything was fine. Then suddenly, like five zombies came out of the cubicles and started attacking us. There was one behind Shino who smashed his head against the wall, and he must have fainted or something, because then he was on the ground even though I kept yelling at him to get up. And like, then three of them came at me, so I was too busy fighting them to notice that the other two must have dragged Shino away somewhere, 'cause when I turned around, he was gone. I tried to find him, but he was nowhere! Like, they must have taken him back down to the first floor or something. God, I know I shouldn't have left the room. I should have just pissed in a bottle or something, I am so, so sorry—"

"Forget it," I said quickly, already getting up from my seat. "Come on, we have to go find him—"

"No."

I turned around to find Sasuke's hand on my shoulder. His face was impassive, but I was close enough to see that his gaze was worried.

"What?" I spat. "So you're suggesting we abandon him—leave him with those—those things? Fuck knows what they'll do to him!"

"Or what they've done to him already," Sasuke said quietly, tightening his grip on my shoulder. "You know they never save their food; once he left Naruto's sight, he was gone."

"He's right," Neji added. "I'm sorry, Kiba, but we just can't risk everyone's safety when he's most likely already…"

I looked around the room, trying to gather some support. Hinata was sobbing her heart out on Naruto's shoulder, while the blond was torn between siding with me and protecting Hinata's safety. Sakura was fidgeting, staring determinedly out of the window and avoiding my gaze. Shikamaru and Ino exchanged glances before looking at their feet; I suddenly remembered that they had lost their best friend too, not long after we hoarded ourselves up in the school—

"I'll do it."

Everyone turned to look at Temari.

"I'll go with Kiba," she continued, getting up from her spot on the floor. "I'll go with him to look for Shino."

"No," Neji said quickly. "It's too dangerous. We don't even know if he's still alive—"

"We don't know that he's dead either," I snapped back.

"Look, Neji," Temari said calmly. "I get what you and Sasuke are trying to say, really. But—but there's still a chance that he's alive, and… and come on. Wouldn't you be doing the same thing as Kiba if it had been Lee or Tenten out there instead of Shino?"

For a fraction of a second, I could have sworn I saw Neji's lavendar eyes glaze over at the mention of his former friends. They were some of the first to have been turned into zombies. But just as quickly as that moment came, it went, and Hyuuga Neji went back to being cold and impassive.

"Fine," he said, his tone less harsh than before. "But only you two, okay? And don't bother getting into any fights or anything; just see if he's okay and bring him back if he is. If not, don't idle around and come back up here as soon as possible. Got it?"

"Aye aye, captain," I said, mock-saluting him. He didn't seem very impressed.

Whatever, Neji.

* * *

"Thanks," I muttered as I shut the door behind me. "For the support and everything."

"Don't mention it," Temari said as we made our way towards the staircase. "I owe you for that pep talk last night, anyway."

Hm. Maybe Temari wasn't so bad after all.

We were silent as we descended the stairs, opting to go right when we reached the bottom. Temari took her stance behind me, and we walked forward—or backwards in Temari's case—covering the entire floor. When we had searched the whole floor and found no sign of anything living—or undead—we tried going to the floor below.

When we heard nothing—not even the mindless drones of the zombies—I panicked. If anything had happened to Shino, if he was—if he was already gone…

"They've probably taken him to the first floor," Temari whispered from behind me. "Come on, let's go."

"Y-yeah. Sure."

I felt Temari pat me awkwardly on my back. I appreciated the gesture.

"It'll be okay," she said. "He's probably already woken up and is fending off those other zombies. So really, let's hurry up and go help him, yeah?"

I turned around to get a good look at her. She was a year older than the rest of us—same as Neji—but weeks of sleep deprivation, physical overexertion and a lack of a proper diet had left her looking half her age.

But her eyes were soft, and understanding, two words I would have never associated Temari with before. Gone was the brash upperclassman who I only ever heard yelling at Kankuro or lecturing Gaara in the hallways. Instead, she had been replaced with someone whose mouth was not set as hard, whose voice brought comfort rather than lashings, and whose eyes crinkled whenever she laughed, however infrequent that was.

Suddenly, I understood why she was the only one Kankuro's angry little brother would listen to.

"Let's go," I said, turning back around and walking briskly to the stairs that led down to the first floor. "You're right, he's probably down there. Think he would be as far down as the ground floor by any chance?"

"Who knows. Those zombies can be pretty unpredictable." I could sense the light smile playing on Temari's lips.

"Better hurry then," I said, returning the gesture, and rushed down the stairs.

We quietened our paces as we reached the landing of the first floor, knowing we were going to run into some zombies whether Shino was with them or not. Although the majority of them hung out on the ground floor, the more… mobile ones occasionally ventured upstairs to get a change of scenery. The top floor was always deserted, as was the third. It was almost like they were afraid of the altitude or something. Either that, or they couldn't be assed going that high up. There were few zombies on the second floor, if any, but one particular encounter with some there was enough to tell us that the ones that did appear on that floor were the ones to watch out for. It was almost like a test; the higher up you could go in the school, the higher up in the zombie hierarchy you were.

Thank God we hadn't seen any on the third floor yet. The second floorers were bitches enough already.

"I don't hear any screaming," Temari noted.

"Shino doesn't scream," I murmured, scanning the area. "He's just—"

"Shush," Temari started, grabbing my arm from behind. "I hear droning. There must be some around here."

Before I even had time to reply, she had pulled me behind a corner, clamping her free hand over my mouth, presumably to stop the undignified yelp I would have no doubt made, and cautiously glanced around, peering around the wall before hastily retracting her head and pulling us as far back against the wall as we could go.

Seconds later, we saw half a dozen zombies walk by, dragging their feet as they went.

Along with someone else, too.

* * *

_Seven Months Earlier…_

"Is it done?"

"Needs a bit more time, sir. In a few more weeks—"

"You will not be here. The longer you stay with us, the higher the chance of someone finding out you're here. And this company cannot afford to be associated with you. You understand this, don't you, Orochimaru?"

The man, Orochimaru, smirked and gave his employer a mock-bow.

"Of course, sir. Just like how this company cannot afford to be associated with you."

The other man nodded, choosing to ignore the sarcasm laced in Orochimaru's words. He scrutinised the pale scientist before saying, "That's right. No one outside the board of directors can know either of us are here."

"Must be hard though," Orochimaru prodded, grinning. He walked over to his desk and began filing away some of the papers. "I mean, this is your company, no? To have someone else as the figurehead, to have the company named after that someone… And who do you think will get the credit once all our plans are complete?"

"I trust Kisame completely," the young man said, folding his arms. His voice was calm, but it was apparent to Orochimaru that he had hit a nerve.

"Is that so?" he murmured. "Still, it must bother you that—"

"I don't care about the glory," the man cut in. "I wouldn't have done what I did in the first place if I did."

"Then what did you do it for?" Orochimaru asked, intrigued. He turned back around to face his employer, eyes focusing on the crisp suit the other man wore, marvelling at the contrast between its sophisticated style and the man's youthful features.

He looked almost perfect.

"I don't think that that's any of your business," he replied, eyes narrowing slightly. "All you should concern yourself with is the task at hand. This is taking far too long. I want the completed product by the end of the month."

"But that's just next week—"

"Do you have a problem with that?"

"I—" Orochimaru began, then paused. Getting angry, especially with this man, would do no one any good. Choosing his next words more carefully, he said, "With all due respect, sir, these things… they take time. To rush any phase of this would be fatal. I understand the position you are in, sir, and I understand why you want this process sped up. But it will not help any of us. So just… give me more time."

The young man stood silently throughout Orochimaru's speech, and continued to do so once he was finished. Orochimaru tensed under the man's gaze; how could someone so young be so formidable? He wanted to study this man, take apart his brain to see how each and every part of it functioned, how it could have possibly made this man who he was today. His control, his apathy, his thought processes; Orochimaru suddenly felt a strange want—need—to know how his mind worked.

As if his thoughts could be heard aloud, the man shifted and turned around, making his way to the door without a word.

Just as Orochimaru thought he was given the clear, the man halted, reached into his breast pocket and took out a business card, leaving it on a nearby table.

"Don't waste my time, Orochimaru," he said, so quietly, it was almost a whisper. "You'll regret it if you do."

With that, he was off.

* * *

"Come on," I hissed once Temari took her hand away from my mouth. "Look! There they are, they have Shino! Hurry up, or—"

"Don't talk so loudly," Temari interrupted, elbowing me in the gut. "Listen, we have to approach this carefully. We can't let them see us, or fuck knows how many reinforcements they'll call in. Let's follow them, quietly, and see where it takes us. I doubt they're going to suddenly stop and start eating lunch in the middle of the corridor."

She let go, and together, we crept up behind them, making sure that we were close enough to still be able to hear them moving about, but far enough to make sure they couldn't smell or hear us.

"They're going into one of the old geography classrooms," Temari whispered.

I glanced at her. This was it. If we couldn't get Shino out now, then we would never be able to.

"Okay, so here's what we'll do," I said, turning to Temari. "Soon as they're all in, we'll run in after them, slam and lock the door behind us, and kick their asses. They'll wish to fuck they never attacked Shino and Naruto. Sound good?"

"Weapons?"

"The geography classrooms have metal tables and chairs. I think those will do."

"Hm. Not bad," Temari commented. "Oh look. They're in now."

I looked at the door. Sure enough, the last of the zombies had just gone through.

"Okay," I said, my heart pounding in my chest. "Okay, let's do this."

I sprinted to the door and rushed through, Temari close behind. When I heard her close the door and lock it behind us as quietly as she could, I grabbed a nearby chair and positioned it in front of me. I could see Shino's body lying on the ground nearby, untouched, his captors having been distracted by our sudden appearance.

"Shino," I called out. "Shino, can you hear me? Wake up, dammit!"

I got no response from Shino, but the other zombies took it as a cue to start attacking us; I heard Temari yelp in surprise before grabbing a chair herself and rushing to defend herself against three zombies who suddenly pounced on her. I didn't have much time to worry about her though, as I felt something grab my ankle and pull me down.

My shoulder crashed into one of the tables as I fell, sending a jolt of pain down my side. I bit my lip, fighting back a cry, and, ignoring the searing pain in my left arm, brought my chair up with both hands to smash it down against the zombie's head.

It grunted and let go of my foot; I took this chance to leap up and punch another oncoming zombie in the face before elbowing its head down against the table behind it. I heard the zombie at my feet grunt again and try to get hold of my leg, but I grabbed the table behind me firmly, pushing myself up with my arms and tucking my knees into my chest, before lashing out and bringing my heels down onto the zombie's skull.

My feet hit their target with a sickening crunch, and when I landed on the ground again, I had to take care not to slip over the slime that coated my shoes.

Ew. Zombie brain juice.

It was like an out-of-body experience. Although my adrenaline was pumping and my reflexes were as sharp as they had ever been, I found myself completely detached from the scene, almost as if I had been watching it from above, one eye on the zombies, and the other on Shino.

Shino.

I rushed over to him---almost crashing into a few tables on the way, thanks to the brain gunk—relieved to see he hadn't been zombie-fied.

"Shino!" I yelled, reaching down to grab his shoulders. "Shino! Wake up! We need to get out of here!"

I tried everything; shaking him, slapping him, even getting a nearby bottle of water and pouring it on his face, but nothing happened.

"Ha!" I heard Temari cry in triumph, presumably having defeated all three of her attackers.

"Come on, Shino," I murmured, turning his head to the side.

I placed two of my fingers on his neck, trying to find a pulse. When I didn't get anything, I grabbed his hand instead, putting my fingers on the inside of his wrist.

"Shit," I breathed. "No. No. No, this can't—for fuck's sake, Shino—Shino! Get up. Get up now, Shino, you stupid asshole, don't you dare—"

My vision became blurry, and as I blinked, I felt warm liquid running down my face.

I was crying.

"Shino, get up," I said stubbornly, trying to control my voice from wavering too much. "Hurry up, we have to get out of here before more of them come—"

My words were cut off by Temari's scream, and as I turned around, I saw a zombie grabbing her neck and shoving her against the wall, unmoving despite her kicks to its abdomen. I suddenly remembered; we had seen six zombies walk past us with Shino, and had only killed off five of them.

"Fuck," I swore, getting up and rushing over to help Temari.

"Kiba! Help!" she choked, clawing at the hands around her neck.

The zombie leaned in to take a bite out of her shoulder just as I reached her. I grabbed it, pulling it off of her; she collapsed on the floor, gasping for breath, as I picked up a nearby shard of broken glass and dug it into the zombie's forehead. It stopped struggling, its glazed eyes becoming even more blank and I turned my attention back to Temari.

"Are you okay?" I asked her, reaching my hand out to help her.

She shrunk away from me, curled in a sobbing heap against the wall.

"What is it?" I knelt down, moving closer to her despite her pleas, and lifted up her chin.

"Kiba," she started, before breaking down again.

I squatted in front of her, puzzled, until I saw what had happened.

"Temari," I breathed, looking at her, horrified.

There was a huge chunk of her shoulder missing. All I could see was the blood seeping through her clothes and her shoulder blade showing through the rip in her shirt.

"No," I said, my voice quivering, as a new wave of grief overcame me.

I was too late.

* * *

**A/N:**

Do I still need to say this? Thanks again to **Annie Sparklecakes** for always being the best beta in, well, the world. Except not. Because I thought she was still banannieberry at first. & I know she only does this so she can get in my pants.

Sorry for the long wait, guys. A few things here and there happened; got a new computer, which took some getting used to, then school happened, as have university applications. Plus, I needed to figure out where I wanted to go with this, since even though I had a vague idea, I didn't know. But now I do, so, you know, if I ever use the 'writer's block' excuse in future, then it's a lie.

But you really didn't need to know that.


End file.
